Council met on Tuesday, August 12 for our monthly meeting with nine of our twelve members present, five staff members, one member-owner, and three visitors from Syracuse. Our visitors were all board members of the Syracuse Real Foods Co-op who had come down earlier that afternoon to tour our West-End store, the Central Kitchen, and our community room, The Space @ GreenStar, and they stayed for the first part of the meeting to witness our process.

Our first item on the agenda was the monthly General Manager's (GM's) Report. GM Brandon Kane reported that the repaving project at the West-End store and the new customer restrooms have been completed and that upcoming plans are to add a new express register in the store. There are also plans to make some changes at our DeWitt location, with a reset to be accomplished by the holiday season. Brandon reported that some members have requested that we no longer carry products from Eden Foods as they are following the restrictions of health-care coverage that Hobby Lobby won in a Supreme Court case. While we may not agree with their decision, we also have to acknowledge that Eden Foods has been a leader in bringing BPA-free containers to the US. Rather than pull their products, management encourages our members to vote with their purchase dollars and buy products they do support.

Next, we discussed a proposal to change the name of our satellite store from GreenStar Oasis to GreenStar DeWitt. The rationale for a name change was twofold: first, that some people in the community did not recognize that it was part of the Co-op; and secondly, that as we look toward hopefully opening another satellite store in Collegetown, the geographic reference would consistently identify the different store locations while making it clear that each location is part of the GreenStar cooperative. The proposal had first come to Council at our June meeting, but a decision was held off until we could solicit feedback from our members about the change. As most of the responses were in favor of the change, we decided that we would call the location "GreenStar Co-op at DeWitt Mall" or a shorter derivative thereof.

Council was in the dark for most of our meeting on Tuesday, July 8 as a storm took out power and blew down trees around town. We met in The Classrooms @ GreenStar with nine of twelve Council Members, three staff members, and our Board Administrator present. Through the threat of tornadoes and high winds we proceeded, moving high-priority items first, and managing to hang in and complete our agenda for the night.

First, we approved a proposal to bring a member-initiated referendum to our member-owners for a vote in October. The petition to conduct a referendum came to Council in May and, if approved by our members, would change some of the guidelines currently in place regarding the inspection of farms selling meat to GreenStar, as well as increase the mileage limit within which farms must be located in order to sell meat at the Co-op.

Next, we approved the content of our fall membership mailing and three membership meetings to be held in October. A Member Forum will take place from 6:30 to 8:30 pm on Thursday, Oct. 2 at The Space @ GreenStar for discussion of the above-mentioned referendum. An Open Mic meeting will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 pm on Tuesday, Oct. 7 in The Classrooms @ GreenStar as a venue for members to bring suggestions, comments, and ideas to Council's and staff's attention, and will give another opportunity to discuss the referendum. Our Fall Membership Meeting will take place from 5:30 to 9 pm on Friday, Oct. 17 at The Space.

Our annual officer elections, which had been postponed from last month, came next. Congratulations to Chris Negronida, our new Vice President, Bob Rhea, our new Treasurer, and Jessica Rossi, re-elected as Secretary. Thanks to my fellow Council Members for electing me as President again.

Council met on Tuesday, June 10 in The Classrooms @ GreenStar for our regular monthly meeting with nine of twelve Council members, four staff, two Council-elect, and one member-owner present. During our announcement period we heard that our affiliate GreenStar Community Projects (GSCP) would host another community networking event in The Space @ GreenStar on Thursday, June 19. We also learned that Britton Dougherty resigned because of her busy schedule working on an organic farm in Interlaken. We will miss her bright and enthusiastic contributions and thank her for her service.

During our member comment time, we heard a request for signage in the stores asking shoppers to curb their cell phone use at the registers and in the dining areas. We also heard complaints regarding the brewing of coffee in our stores and the condition of the coffee grinding area in the Bulk section at our West-End store after customer use.

As is normal, our first item of business, the General Manager's (GM) monthly report came next. Our GM, Brandon Kane, reported that staff are already getting many requests for use of the renovated Space @ GreenStar and that a recent GSCP fundraising event was a big success and a good test of our ability to cater a large group at our facility. Brandon said that liquor license renewals were approved for both stores and that the application for a liquor license for The Space was almost complete, and he hopes for it to be approved by the end of July. He reported that staff will be improving the signage on and painting the façade of The Space, as well as making improvements to the parking lot.

As many in GreenStar's membership have already heard, some member-owners who are part of the local organization Committee for Justice in Palestine (CJP) are in the process of gathering signatures for a petition seeking to bring a referendum before the Co-op's membership for a vote this fall. According to a draft shown to Council representatives, the proposed referendum would ask GreenStar to halt the sale of certain Israeli products that the CJP says are associated with the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Neither GreenStar, its Council, or the Co-op's management is associated with the petition. The Co-op has not endorsed it, nor does the Co-op have a position on the I...

Thanks for your interest in serving on GreenStar's Council (board of directors). We look forward to hearing your voice, benefiting from your ideas, and working with you to make the Co-op an even better place./p>

In the annual Council election, conducted throughout April, at least 5 of the seats on Council are filled (for 3-year terms). If vacancies have occurred since the previous election, those may be filled for the balance of those terms (e.g., for 1 ...